WHAT VALUES DEFINE YOU? – Remembering My AIESEC Values

Values define what is important in our personal and work life. Values are those things we consider to be best and place some worth in.

Values in all its ramifications give a person a sense of judgment, direction, and principles by which a person lives.

There are several values which a person can choose to live by but the ones you choose depend on that which produces the results that resonate with you.

While I was at the university, I belonged to an organization called AIESEC.


 It is an international student-run organisation that seeks to promote leadership, development of humankind potentials, and the encouragement of cross-cultural integration among youths around the world.

Among all the things I will always remember in the organisation are the AIESEC values. These values drive us. It gave us the will to go on and it gave the spirit of purpose.

We were made to recite the values in most of our weekly meetings just to ensure the values stick to our minds. And really they stuck to my mind.

What I love about the AIESEC values is that it reflects the aims and objectives of the organisation at the same time it helped shape my personal life. 
Every organisation is made up of people that make up the whole organisation and they all need to be given a sense of direction that will help them achieve the organisational goals.

Values define how those goals are achieved.

As every individual applies the values to their work it enables them to achieve the organisational goals while achieving their personal objectives.

The reality is that most successful organisations that have the interest of its members at heart ensure that its members follow certain principles that they can apply on themselves at the same time be used to achieve the organisation’s objectives.

It is the reason why ex-members of groups like Man O War, Boys Scout, Navy SEALs, etc retain values they learn from the organization even after they left the groups.

I still remember values like discipline, perseverance, and indomitable spirit among others I learnt from Taekwondo club back then at the University of Jos.

At every stage in life learn new values.

You may not use all the values you learnt during your life journey, but you are free to choose your favourite value(s).

My favourite values came from AIESEC.

It’s the reason why I will like to repeat and explain the AIESEC values to you.

Striving for Excellence – At every stage of your leadership and professional career, you must ensure that you do your best work possible to bring about excellent results. Also, while pursuing your goals you may fail, but you must be ready to try again. Excellence comes from repeatedly turning failure into opportunities for growth.

Activating Leadership – Leaders lead by example. In whatever you do, ensure you take the lead by showing an example for others to follow. A lot of people are not ready to take responsibility for leadership; they wait for others who have the mind to do so.

By activating leadership you show others that even if you are not a leader by the position you can take responsibility for your development and that of others.

You activate leadership by inspiring confidence in others, then display boldness and courage to stand as a leader.

Living Diversity – In a multicultural and diverse society, where everything has gone global in nature, there is the need to be able to adapt to changing societies and people and be able to tolerate diverse kinds of individuals and culture. As a global citizen, you should be able to live with and respect everyone’s differences you come across with and not discriminate anyone based on their culture, religion, and social orientation. The ability to work well with people and be effective in teams makes you stand out.

Acting Sustainably – The concept of sustainability has become popular these days. This is because there is the realisation that we must act in a manner where we need to protect what we have and do so that our actions today will be of benefit in the future. It means we must be responsible for our actions today.

 If you consider issues like climate change and the dwindling nature of natural resources in some areas in the world you will realise that there is the need to act in a manner where you utilise resources in a way that future generations will benefit from your activities today.

Ask yourself this question, “Will what I do today have a benefit for future generations?” We need to be aware that any activity we carry out today will have an effect in the future. So it means we must be responsible for our actions today and take positive actions in order to avoid a negative future.

Demonstrating Integrity – In the business world and the professional life, demonstrating integrity is a cardinal factor to ensure trust and a continued cordial relationship between clients, customers, and other stakeholders involved with you in business. Integrity is not only a valuable asset for an individual but also for an organisation as a whole. By being committed to the promise of fulfilling your part of the bargain at the same time ensuring the truthful quality of work makes for continuity of business for you and increased patronage. One satisfied customer is all you need. 

Integrity is not only relevant as a religious obligation but it also qualifies you as a person of honour. Demonstrating Integrity is the live wire of every relationship.

Enjoying participation – This is one value I enjoy most and also most members in AIESEC do enjoy. It is because this is where the fun is. It means that as part of the team or as a member of the organisation, you should be ready to take part in all activities of your team and ensure completion of tasks. Here also you are ready to be part of the joys and celebrations going on among your team.

While taking part in the activities of the organisation, you have the mindset that doing your best to do something is better than not trying at all. Every individual member of the team ensures that he fits into a part of the whole system and adds his own inputs of skill, talent, knowledge or intelligence.

Knowing that everyone enjoyed participating in the activities that led to success everyone is proud to share in the glory of victory.

It is important to note here that everyone who participates is accepted despite their strengths or weaknesses but they must use every opportunity for growth and development.

Like I mentioned earlier, there are many values out there, but it all depends on the ones that resonate most with you. The values I shared with you above are some of my favourite values because they were relevant to me then in the organisation and they are still relevant to me now in my professional life.

The important thing to note is that your chosen values are beneficial to you and to other people around you.

By identifying your most important values, it helps define your life, and it gives you a life path to follow to live a successful life, especially in a professional career.

When things get tough like they sometimes do, your values are those things that help you hold on and not let go of your dreams.

Which values define you?

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